Dear
Mark,
You briefly mentioned in a past column the importance
of position in Texas Hold'em. What did you mean by
that? Dale O.
What
position is NOT, Dale, is your bun warming seat assignment
in a game. Position refers to your place at the table
relative to other players who are active in a particular
pot. The early positions in an eight-handed game like
Texas Hold'em are the first three players to act on
their hands; the middle positions would be the next
three, and the late positions are the last two. Late
position is the superior position for you,
since you have the
advantage of knowing what your opponents have done.
Unless game rules force you to act first, you always
have position over anyone sitting immediately to
your right, since you act on your hand after the
player to your right takes action, quite likely
giving you useful information.
Also, Dale, you will
hear announcers on the World Poker Tour confide
that a player just made a position bet. What he
means is that a player made a wager more on the
strength of his position than on the strength of
his hand. Many players, myself included, are more
liberal about the hands they will play from a late
position.
For example, a pair of deuces or a suited Ace/deuce
as a starter hand in Texas Hold'em would warrant
some action in late position. Yet, if I were in
early position, and though the hand initially looked
appealing, I generally wouldn't play it.
